As [the] occupation forces continue their starvation campaign against Gaza, targeting and blocking aid from reaching civilians, hospitals are now overwhelmed with unprecedented numbers of starving patients of all ages, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
In a statement on Friday, the ministry said people are arriving at emergency rooms in a state of extreme exhaustion, with many showing signs of severe emaciation.
It warned that hundreds are facing inevitable death from starvation and physical collapse if the siege persists.
The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that the death toll from starvation now includes 69 children, with a total of 620 people dead due to food and medicine shortages since the beginning of the war.
The office stated these figures are the direct result of Israel’s total blockade of the Gaza Strip, enforced as part of its ongoing genocidal campaign.
877 Killed in ‘Death Traps’
According to the same office, 877 Palestinians have been killed in what it described as “death trap” aid centers run jointly by Israel and the United States.
More than 5,666 people have been injured, and 42 remain missing in these locations.
Since the full closure of Gaza’s crossings 139 days ago, Israel has blocked 76,450 aid and fuel trucks from entering the besieged territory.
In addition to the 69 children killed by starvation, over 650,000 children remain at imminent risk of death due to malnutrition and food shortages.
Israeli forces have bombed 57 aid and food distribution centers and 42 food banks. Aid convoys and humanitarian shipments have been attacked at least 121 times.
Meanwhile, 12,500 cancer patients are being denied life-saving treatment and nutrition, and 60,000 pregnant women are at serious risk without access to healthcare or food.
Gaza’s Government Media Office held Israel fully responsible for this starvation campaign, but also condemned the direct involvement or silent complicity of the United States, Germany, and France. It called on the international community to immediately end the blockade, reopen crossings, and allow urgent humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Al-Mayadeen that many families in Gaza “have not eaten for days” and that most civilians are not receiving any food aid. He revealed that even civil defense workers have gone two days without food, surviving only on water.
Basal described aid distribution points as “death traps,” manipulated for political purposes. “History will record that many people in Gaza died of starvation while the world stood by,” he said.
A heartbreaking video from Shehab Agency showed a child in Gaza unable to speak or cry out due to extreme hunger, with his body too frail to express the agony caused by days of starvation.
(Emphasis original.)